It is known to provide mobile audio-capture devices, incorporating one or microphones. Examples include mobile telephones, tablet computers, digital cameras, Virtual Reality (VR) cameras and so on. Typically, these include one or more microphones mounted on the device body and connected to a processor for audio processing, usually under software control, for storage and/or output in one of a number of available formats.
Users wish to have different features in their mobile devices. In the context of audio, some users only use their mobile telephone for voice telecommunications. Others use their telephone for video conferencing, for recording concerts and/or recording video clips. Different use cases require different audio considerations. However, it is not practically feasible to provide multiple microphones, particularly suited to all potential use cases, in a mobile device.
Whilst it is possible to connect additional, external, microphones to mobile devices, these are in a separate housing that is not conveniently carried or compact. Additionally, the external microphones tend not to incorporate processing and/or communication with the mobile device in order to improve or optimise audio quality.